Republicans will tell you Biden is. Mark Zandi, a respected economist (bio here), breaks it down in the chart at left. Isn’t it obvious this is all Biden’s fault? Let’s go through it item-by-item. Russian invasion of Ukraine That’s 3.5% right there, and Biden admits it contr[...]
Archive for the ‘Economics’ Category
Why a gas tax holiday won’t lower pump prices
President Biden is warming up to a federal gas tax holiday (see story here), but will it help motorists? Or is it just empty election-year politics? Probably the latter. Let me explain why, starting with a simple supply-demand graph from Econ 101. In a free market, a lower price increases demand but[...]
Are meatpackers gouging us?
Prices for eggs, chicken, beef, pork, and fish are rising much faster than inflation (see chart below). Consumer advocates claim meatpackers like Tyson are price-gouging. Biden argues they can do it because of the meatpacking industry’s monopolistic character. Let’s check this out. Sharp[...]
June 7th, 2022 - 10:44 pm § in Economics
How 2022 gas rationing works
There’s only so much oil and refinery capacity. Not enough to go around. So rationing is in effect. Gas is being rationed by the free market, not the government. It goes to those with government-printed rationing coupons that look like this (photo, left). Drivers with the most coupons get the [...]
Democrats want to tax oil company “excess profits” again
It happens every time. Gas prices are cyclical; they go up, come down. Nobody complains about cheap gas; but every time it goes up, Democrats want to slap “excess profit” taxes on oil companies. They talked about this in the 1970s, and now they’re talking about it again (see story [...]
Can we quit the inflation B.S. now?
CNN does most of the work, so I’ll refer you to their article here, and summarize highlights and correct errors. 1. The blame game The headline says, “Washington can’t have an honest debate about inflation,” which is true. That’s because “it’s largely a char[...]
Update: $10 gas? Not so fast. Here’s the backstory
A KIRO-TV news story (here) on Friday, May 20, 2022, clarified how that viral story about $10 gas in Washington state got loose into the wild. Their story (edited here for length, and to stay within “fair use” guidelines): ” … [T]here are headlines – not quite correct – t[...]
May 18th, 2022 - 1:17 pm § in Biden, Business, Donald Trump, Economics, Foreign Affairs, Politics, Russia
$10 gas coming to Washington state? Not so fast.
The Daily Mail, a U.K.-based tabloid with a rightwing slant that I sometimes use as a story source (because they publish suspects’ names and publish photos of the bodies when other media won’t) posted the following headline on Wednesday, May 18, 2022 (here): Gas stations in Washington re[...]
May 16th, 2022 - 3:15 pm § in Economics
Why workers are quitting
Because jobs are plentiful, there’s a labor shortage, and they don’t have to put up with working conditions like this anymore: Ashley Sierra, a Dollar General employee in Marion, Georgia, was paid $11 an hour, and given part-time hours. Her paychecks were $200 to $260 a week. She said &#[...]
May 9th, 2022 - 2:54 am § in Donald Trump, Economics
Are unions coming back?
After World War 2, industrial unions were the economic backbone of the middle class. Since then, vast numbers of blue-collar jobs have been eliminated by offshoring of manufacturing and automation of what remained, and concerted conservative political attacks against organized labor, starting with R[...]